#WingIt

"Red Bull Gives You Wings!"

I remember hearing the slogan while watching the cartoon commercials when the characters would take a sip of Red Bull, sprout wings, and fly away.  It's amazing how, over time, Red Bull has evolved into so much more than just an energy drink producer.  They have become an integral part of the extreme sports industry who continually sponsor athletes and events.  Red Bull is now associated with action sports more so than with their sole product, the energy drink.  The amount of sports, athletes, and events they sponsor is widespread, ranging from surfing to climbing to music.  With so much happening in so many different areas, how can they possibly market to so many different areas of sport?

Social Media

Red Bull is a dominant force when it comes to social media marketing.  At my last count, I found 10 official twitter accounts belonging to Red Bull.  Their accounts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube have millions of followers who are receiving up-to-date notifications about what is happening in the Red Bull world. Their social media allows them to connect personally with millions of consumers, giving them an edge over many competitors.

For a recent school project, we were assigned to come up with new components for brands with well-established social media marketing platforms.  My group and I chose Red Bull and immediately realized the difficulty in coming up with something new for them to implement.  We finally decided to propose a new hashtag - #WingIt.  Why would this be a good addition for Red Bull's already successful social media campaign? It's short, sweet, and to the point.  It takes up less space than using #redbullgivesyouwings or #givesyouwings or even #redbull.  While taking up less space, it also relates to the personality of Red Bull and compliments the existing slogan.  

Red Bull will continue to be successful in their social media marketing tactics whether or not they decide to #WingIt.  They are a great example of how a company can maximize their consumer reach and increase brand awareness through many different social media platforms.  Now I'll go back to watching the Red Bull events while sipping on a can of my own hoping that, somehow, it can help me perform like the high-flying athletes they sponsor.

Love Is In The Air

Mmmm, can you feel it? Taste it? Smell it? I sure can.  Love is in the air as people celebrate love and relationships on this Valentine's Day of 2014.  Earlier today I walked into a local grocery store and was amazed at the amount of people buying last minute flowers while countless ads were hung for all things love.  Holidays like this one create great opportunities for marketers to capitalize on the love-struck consumers who are trying tirelessly to say "Be Mine."

This year as I get deeper and deeper into the Marketing Program at the Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, I seem to pay more and more attention to the advertising world around me.  I have taken note to what some of my favorite brands have done to increase sales this Valentine's Day and I'll share a few of them with you.

One of my favorite footwear brands, Sanuk, successfully capitalized on me this season.  I received alerts about a promotion they were having for the holiday where I could enter to win 10 pairs of shoes for me and my Valentine.  I entered, obviously, and they pulled my attention immediately back to their website where I went on to buy a new pair for my lady.  Did I fall for Sanuk's plan to engage me on the website in hopes that I would stick around and fork out the dough? You bet.
www.sanuk.com

Other brands like Black Diamond, The North Face, and Mountain Hardwear also ran promotions to increase sales during the holiday.  These brands can greatly benefit from these types of promotions because they have loyal followers and return-customers.  Their marketing efforts do a wonderful job of attracting their target audience and they continue to be successful in their respective industries. Taking advantage of holiday spending will continue to be a popular promotion for almost all companies. I often find myself hearing the "cha-ching" of cash registers when holidays come about.
http://www.thenorthface.com/en_US/index.html
http://blackdiamondequipment.com/
http://www.mountainhardwear.com/

Did you miss out on the Valentine's Day deals this year? Not to worry, President's day is a mere 48 hours away? You can bet that companies will be treating this holiday like all others, and I'm confident that you'll hear all about it.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - For Marketers

Companies and their marketers look forward to this weekend all year, and the time has finally come.  This Sunday, the long-awaited Super Bowl will take place at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey.  For some, the excitement continues to grow as fans wait to see Peyton Manning and the Broncos take on Russell Wilson and the Seahawks.  For many, many more, the football will come second only to the new commercials that will be premiering on Super Bowl Sunday. The Super Bowl is the most watched program on the US with 110+ million people tuning in each year, making this the advertiser's mecca.  Advertisers do, however, pay the price to get an ad in the Super Bowl, costing several million dollars per every 30 seconds.  Because commercials are being viewed less and less thanks to recording devices, the Super Bowl provides an incredible opportunity to get incredible viewership. 

There are always the same "Big Players", who always create popular ads that are talked about for weeks after the big game.  Doritos and Budweiser and just two examples of the companies that seemingly always take advantage of Super Bowl weekend. The following commercials will be making their debut during the Sunday's game, will they get the viewers attention and increase company sales? You be the judge.

Budweiser

Doritos

Toyota

These ads, along with many others, will be viewed by millions this Sunday.  Brands are getting further and further out of the box, and very desperate for recognition this weekend.  I'll be watching with family and friends as the Seahawks and Broncos go head to head in what is sure to be a great game, but you can bet that we'll also be watching the battle for first among the many companies hoping to make an impact during the Super Bowl.

Twitter - The Place To Be

I remember signing up for my first twitter account a year and a half ago in the summer of 2012.  I "tweeted" maybe twice, got bored, and left, a decision I would later regret.  Twitter is a form of Social Media in which you can post 140 - character long messages for all of your followers to see.  All those who follow you can see the post on their feed and they have the option to favorite, retweet, or reply to your tweet.  You get the opportunity to represent yourself over and over again with short messages that will be shown to however many followers you can reach.  What an incredible marketing tool! Tweeting  is a marketer's dream come true when it comes to communicating to the customer.

I recently re-vamped my twitter account and can't believe what I was missing out on.  I can't take my eyes off of it!  I follow different companies and brands that interest me and I enjoy the short entertaining messages that come across my feed.  This video shows things that happened on twitter during the year 2013 and illustrates the potential impact twitter can have on users.

I am hoping to grow my twitter viewership in the coming months and years.  As a marketing student, twitter is an excellent way for me to learn more about the companies that interest me and to learn about job opportunities.  I am learning everyday new day that I am on twitter the vast importance and impact twitter can have for marketers everywhere.  #Twitter

Yours truly,   @theshanejensen

Making The Connection

Everyday we, the consumers, are bombarded with advertisements.  Every direction we look, there is sure to be an advertisement in sight.  In this blog, I will describe marketing from the perspective of the consumer and the tactics used by marketers.  The main goal of marketers is to make the consumer aware of a product.  The more aware we become of a product, the greater the possibility of future consumer purchases.  We have been subconsciously trained to recognize a plethora of symbols, logos, and slogans that we automatically relate to a brand. 

I am a student at Utah State University, studying in the John M. Huntsman School of Business.  I drive approximately three miles to campus everyday to attend classes and to work my on-campus job.  During the three-mile commute, I find myself studying my surroundings.  I pass shiny new car dealerships, restaurants with massive signs, and countless logo decals on other vehicles.  I hesitate to believe that this would not be overwhelming to a person from an advertisement-free world.  The thousands of advertisements we see daily have become habitual. 

As consumers, we not only recognize clever logos or symbols, we often create emotional connections with different brands.  It may be that we remember our first car when we see the logo on our television, or maybe we think of childhood memories when we see the famous golden arches on nearly every corner.  Marketers strive to create emotional connections between us and their brands, and the positive connections we, the consumers, make often turn into revenue for the marketers and the brands for whom they work. 

Take a look at the following pictures and notice what kind of connection you make with them.  

Look back next week while we continue to discuss different types of marketing and how they affect the everyday consumer.